Shell with flattened apex, stout, horn-like protrusions ring the shoulder, two low ridges encircle the mid-shell, the mantle is white with a dark edge, the base is orange, it is often faintly marked with white and brown. The shell is often encrusted or covered in algal growth. It is one of the largest of helmet shells.

Common in the tropics, but not often recorded. It is however hunted for its meat, and more often for its shell. Is therefore at risk of being threatened. Since it is a natural predator of the crown-of-thorns starfish, it is put under direct protection in Queensland.

This species occurs in the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, off the southern African coast from northern KwaZulu-Natal and from Mozambique, as well as in the Pacific Ocean. It can be found on sand bottoms and coral rubble, usually around reefs, in depths down to 100 meters.

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